How many mice to feed in one sitting?

[voodoolamb]

I have a 1500g and some change female. I've had her a few weeks and she hasn't eaten for me yet. She was in shed during last weekend's feast.

The girl is HUNGRY today. I was handling her by my mice tanks and she was crazy excited. Practically striking at the glass.

She was sold to me as a mouser who they couldn't switch to rats. I do intend to attempt to do so, but as she is a bit thin, I would prefer to get a few good meals into her and get her body condition up first.

So how many adult mice would be safe to offer her in one evening? I'll be doing pretty killed.

[EL-Ziggy]

What size mice are you offering her. If she's 1500g I'd probably give her 2-3 jumbo mice. They're usually only 30-40g each. That's about the equivalent of a 60g small rat or a 120g medium rat.

[Merk]

I have a 1500g and some change female. I've had her a few weeks and she hasn't eaten for me yet. She was in shed during last weekend's feast.

The girl is HUNGRY today. I was handling her by my mice tanks and she was crazy excited. Practically striking at the glass.

She was sold to me as a mouser who they couldn't switch to rats. I do intend to attempt to do so, but as she is a bit thin, I would prefer to get a few good meals into her and get her body condition up first.

So how many adult mice would be safe to offer her in one evening? I'll be doing pretty killed.

I pretty much let my snakes tell me when they are done they quit eating on their own, I have never had one eat too much, I figure they know in the wild how much is too much i pretty much think they have that same knowledge of survival even if they are captive bred...

[Nitewolfie]

I agree with the other people.
Also, one day at the pet store when I was getting feeders these people came in to get four mice to feed their ball python.

[Greensleeves001]

After my BP got settled into home after being relocated, shipped, etc, she ate in this manner:
first week - ate one small rat
second week - ate two small rats
third week - ate two small rats
fourth week - ate FOUR small rats
fifth week- at one medium rat
sixth week - she declined to eat -she went right into shed.
(This particular BP arrived underweight and underfed; her previous owner had lost his job and couldn't afford to care for her... so I think she was making up for lost time!


The exotic vet said not to overfeed them/ feed them too much because being overweight shortens their lifespan. He said feed one rat a week (with respect to my particular snake), but I'm going to stick with offering two small rats.

My thoughts are, if my BP is well-fed and content, she may not try to jail break out of her habitat to go in search of food.

I have another little bp at work and he will usually eat two small mice or one large mouse in a week. If I try to offer him another mouse, he refuses, so I agree with one of the earlier posters who said that BPs know how much to eat.


I do not want animals going hungry in my household.

[melcvt00]

So far, mine has refused to eat more than one large mouse at a time, but he will eat every 5 days instead.

[chrid16371]

After my BP got settled into home after being relocated, shipped, etc, she ate in this manner:
first week - ate one small rat
second week - ate two small rats
third week - ate two small rats
fourth week - ate FOUR small rats
fifth week- at one medium rat
sixth week - she declined to eat -she went right into shed.
(This particular BP arrived underweight and underfed; her previous owner had lost his job and couldn't afford to care for her... so I think she was making up for lost time!


The exotic vet said not to overfeed them/ feed them too much because being overweight shortens their lifespan. He said feed one rat a week (with respect to my particular snake), but I'm going to stick with offering two small rats.

My thoughts are, if my BP is well-fed and content, she may not try to jail break out of her habitat to go in search of food.

I have another little bp at work and he will usually eat two small mice or one large mouse in a week. If I try to offer him another mouse, he refuses, so I agree with one of the earlier posters who said that BPs know how much to eat.


I do not want animals going hungry in my household.

You fed your bp 4 small rats in one feeding? Or did you mean mice?

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[Ba11er]

I have had mice, rats, and dogs overeat if not regulated. Eating is great, and like people i have seen animals eat for the fun of it too.

Survival depends on accumulating as much food as possible so we can survive the lean times. BP in captivity don't have to worry about this but i believe some snakes will eat anytime something is presented to them because they still have the mentality of eat while the eattings good.

I prefer to offer an appropriate amount of food on an appropriate timetable for the species of animal just to ensure they don't overeat.

Sounds like some good advice was given on the prey sized but i disagree with offering food till the BP stops eating. I think the once a week feeding of a rodent no bigger than the biggest size of the ball python is a good rule of thumb. I would find an appropriate size rat weigh it and then give the same weight in mice to the snake.

Good luck

[Jasber]

The sooner you can get her on rats, the better. Then go with sizing just larger than her largest diameter. I just brought my banana home from petsmart a week ago and fed her a small live rat (I was worried about the size a bit at first) three days after she came home. Took it like a champ and is now digesting in her hide waiting for her next feeding. She hadn't ate at all in the 6 weeks she was at petsmart

[voodoolamb]

I have gotten her to eat a grand total of 1 large mouse since bringing her home.

She was on prekilled before I got her, I prefer frozen thawed. I think she might need fresher meat.

I think I may try a live rat pup next feeding. She gets very aggressive at feeding time. Striking at me, hissing, aggressive stance. She has never coiled but has struck at the mice a few times. The one she ate was when I left it in her tub a few hours.

She's shed for me, and pooped for me, but I will be very happy once she gets a decent meal in her tummy.